but all undaunted, the disappointed monarch prepares at once for the defence of the city. (Act III. scene 1). Nor is it too soon. For that very evening, Nataraja in one of his dreamy excursions, observes the Travancore forces marching on to Tinnevelly. (Act III. scene 2). And by midnight, the tumult in and around the town rises so high that it reaches the ears of Manonmani. It completely bruises her unselfish heart to understand the extent of the complications that have arisen from her innocent dream. (Act III. scene 3). But a possible solution of those complications is also in full progress. For in the course of a religious debate conducted much about the same time, between two disciples of Sundara in his hermitage, mention is made of a secret subterranean passage that the good priest is opening from his room in the palace to the plain outside the fort. (Act III. Scene 4).

The dawn brings with it a bloody battle; and Kudila sends away on garrison duty all suspected to be too faithful to the king, and among them one Narayana, a valiant keen-sighted attendant, thoroughly devoted to Jivaka though only despised in return. Meantime he so disposes the army that the King is exposed to the brunt of the attack. (Act IV scene 1). But an unexpected event in a different quarter throws the whole army into hopeless confusion. A soldier in the wing commanded by Paladeva pushes himself up to his general, and then stepping forward with a golden bangle in his hand, fells him down with a stroke of his spear exclaiming “thus do I avenge my sister’s disgrace.” Though the multineer is soon despatched and the general revives from the effects of the blow, the confusion caused by the incident proves irremediable, and the day is irrecoverably lost. In the dreadful carnage that ensues, Jivaka’s life is every moment in danger. But Narayana is on his watch from the turrets of the fort and noticicing the first appearance of disorder, he throws himself in a twinkling with the pick of the cavalry into the thickest of the strife, and safely conducts the King and his shattered army back to the fort. (Act IV scene 2). Stung with shame, the proud Pandia prepares for suicide; but Narayana opportunely reminds him of his helpless daughter and rescues him from self-immolation. Meantime the chivalrous sovereign of Travancore sends a messenger to offer Peace, on condition of Jivaka’s paying an annual tribute of a pot of the Tambrapurni water and a garland of Margoasa flowers (the national flower of the Pandian Dynasty). But encouraged by Kudila and in the natural